The Purpose of Israel

The Israelite People Never Fully Understood What it Meant to Be God’s Chosen People

They Believed Being God’s Special People Meant They Were to Despise Other Nations, Kingdoms, and Tribes

But Ever Since the Covenant God Made with Abraham…

Israel Was Meant to Be a Blessing to the Rest of the World

Israel never seemed to understand that as God’s chosen people, they were to be a medium of ministry to all nations of earth (Gen. 12:3; Deut. 4:6–8; Ps. 67; Isa. 42:6–7; 49:6). Israel took the Lord’s prohibitions against any fraternization that might lead Israel into idolatry, and they applied it wholesale to any contact with Gentiles. They also held to an elitist attitude, because they were the people to whom God had revealed the law (Rom. 2:17–29). They should have realized that he was revealing the law (his heart) not to them, but also through them to the world.

Frederick Dale Bruner is an American biblical scholar.

As Bruner provocatively warns, “Hell is not a doctrine used to frighten unbelievers; it is a doctrine used to warn those who think themselves believers.”